Telnet client program

This happened, for example, in the infamous Sony breach. Managing SSH keys properly is important. PuTTY grew out of a telnet client. It still supports the telnet protocol. However, very few devices use telnet these days. Its use is not recommended for security reasons. Telnet sends all user names and passwords in the clear. It is very easy to listen to network traffic and steal user names and passwords from telnet traffic. By mids, such password sniffing attacks had become the largest security problem on the Internet.

That was the very problem SSH was designed to solve. Compromised routers, switches, or ARP proofing attacks can also be used to inject arbitrary commands into telnet sessions. There is a separate version of the software, called PuTTYtel , for countries that do not allow any use of encryption.

However, SSH is now used in all countries, officially or unofficially. Most systems can no longer be managed without encryption. Even the most oppressive countries need to secure their systems somehow.

There cannot be cybersecurity in a networked environment without encryption. PuTTY also supports connecting to serial ports and raw sockets.

These can sometimes be useful for debugging purposes and for working with some legacy devices. For information on Telnet, see here. For information on SFTP secure file transfers, see here. Installation instructions for Windows. Setting up public key authentication using PuTTYgen. To verify the signatures, you need the gpg tool.

On Debian-based Linux, it can be installed with aptitude install gnupg. On Red Hat 7, it can be installed with yum install gnupg2. The installation package includes putty. It can also be used standalone, without the installation package, by simply copying the executable to a USB stick and running it on a new machine.

This way, the user can carry the executable with them. However, this should not be assumed to provide great security - malware on the machine where it is used can still compromise the software cf.

CIA hacking tool bothanspy and viruses may get installed on the USB stick whenever it is inserted in a new machine. See the separate puttygen page on how to create and set up SSH keys with it. Download Microsoft Edge More info. Contents Exit focus mode. Is this page helpful? Please rate your experience Yes No. Any additional feedback? Recommended Articles. Article Contributed By :. Easy Normal Medium Hard Expert. Writing code in comment? Please use ide. Load Comments.